Tech Money: Betting On Immigrant Grit

Launching a startup and building it into a successful, fast-moving, disruptive enterprise takes grit, wits, hard work and audacious ambition—qualities that also come in handy when emigrating to a foreign land to start a new life.

That’s what Semyon Dukach and Eveline Buchatskiy are banking on. Both are former directors of Techstars Boston and experienced in the art of raising capital and guiding young companies. Their new firm, One Way Ventures, is focused on funneling money to technology startups that count at least one immigrant among their founders, whose character has been formed by the that experience.

“We think the world will be better as more funding goes to immigrant-founded startups because it’s going to help enable more immigrant-founded startups, which ultimately helps more immigrants,” Dukach told FORBES. “And I believe that greater immigration – and greater acceptance of immigration socially – improves the world.”Gallery: 2017 30 Under 30: Venture Capital30 imagesView gallery

Dukach and Buchatskiy insist that One Way Ventures – named for the notion that immigrants do not buy return tickets – is a stab at promoting what they believe is the basic human right to leave one’s country in order to make one’s dreams come true in another, not merely a vehicle to generate investment returns (though that too is an aspiration). Such impact investing is not unheard of, Dukach points out, noting other venture firms that target social issues or address global concerns. “There are ways to channel your investment to make an actual impact on the world.”

Dukach and Buchatskiy insist that One Way Ventures – named for the notion that immigrants do not buy return tickets – is a stab at promoting what they believe is the basic human right to leave one’s country in order to make one’s dreams come true in another, not merely a vehicle to generate investment returns (though that too is an aspiration). Such impact investing is not unheard of, Dukach points out, noting other venture firms that target social issues or address global concerns. “There are ways to channel your investment to make an actual impact on the world.”

Both Dukach and Buchatskiy have immigrant roots. Dukach came to the United States as a child in 1979. He studied mathematics at MIT, where he became a leader on the school’s storied blackjack team. He went on to found the software firm Fast Engines and ad display company Vert before taking up the angel investor mantle, making bets on numerous companies. Dukach was named managing director for Techstars Boston in 2014.

Semyon Dukach and Eveline Buchatskiy of One Way Ventures, a new VC firm focusing on immigrant-led tech startups. SEMYON DUKACH AND EVELINE BUCHATSKIY

Buchatskiy left her native Brazil in 1992 to study chemical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, before obtaining her master’s at the University of Buffalo in New York—all the while juggling work and visa woes. In 2007 she moved to Ukraine, working as a consultant with Eastone – an investment advisory group owned by Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk – and heading up a startup, APowerCap Technologies. Along the way she earned an MBA from INSEAD.

In 2009 Buchatskiy took the helm at Ekonomika, a publishing house owned by Pinchuk that was in need of a turnaround. After two years she spearheaded Eastlabs, a startup accelerator also funded by the Ukrainian oligarch. In 2014, following the Ukrainian revolution and the subsequent aggressive incursion by Russia, the fund was hard-pressed for cash and Buchatskiy accepted an invitation from Dukach – who she’d known previously as a tech investor – to return to the United States as a mentor with Techstars Boston. She later became a director at the organization.

Buchatskiy and Dukach had been casually discussing the idea of a venture firm focused on immigrant-led startups, but the concept crystallized six months ago. Dukach was among the protesters at Logan Airport following the first iteration of President Trump’s travel ban in January. Several days later, Techstars mentor and angel investor Joe Caruso suggested to Dukach the basic idea for what would become One Way. “Trump aggravated a lot of liberal people in a lot of ways, but all of that was theoretical to me,” says Dukach. “When he attacked immigration it became personal.”

And potentially profitable. Buchatskiy says that about a quarter of venture-backed companies in the U.S. have an immigrant as a founder, “yet 51% of unicorns [companies valued at over $1 billion] have immigrant founders,” she says. “Which means that even though they’re not getting the attention early on, they still get to kill it later on.”

In addition to providing capital as a traditional VC, One Way will probably have to assist immigrant founders as they seek to expand in other ways such as helping establish a support network and a beachhead stateside. “If it’s a company that is kind of fresh in the U.S., then it is imperative that we add a local U.S. cofounder to do the business development, sales, marketing,” Buchatskiy says. “Because if they don’t do that, they typically tend to take so long with the learning curve that by the time they learn, they run out of cash. So we will facilitate that process.”

As mentors of entrepreneurs, Buchatskiy and Dukach have, in the past, referred immigrant startup teams to lawyers to assist with obtaining visas. But now, with the Trump administration’s less-than-welcoming stance on immigration being what it is, and the president’s delay of the International Entrepreneur Rule, roadblocks to bringing foreign founders into the country persist.

This doesn’t seem to scare Buchatskiy and Dukach. Dukach says his commitment to One Way will be exclusive, meaning he will pass on investment opportunities with young firms that do not have immigrant founders—which pretty much counts him out of most of the potential funding deals that come his way. But that’s okay, he says. “It feels right. It doesn’t feel scary. It’s a bigger mission than me.”